Are Americans required to register their private home gardens on the USDA website so the government can track what they're growing? No, that's not true: The U.S. Department of Agriculture created a program to support "community gardens" -- urban gardens that are open to the public -- by offering voluntary registration for those community gardens. They are not regulating private gardens and are not requiring people to register their home gardens or what is grown in them.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on YouTube on June 1, 2023, with the title, "Your Garden Is Dangerous 😳." It opened with a man speaking into the camera:
Well, hello America. So, y'all see where the USDA just came out and said, 'Hey if you grow your own food at home, if you have a garden, y'all need to come to our website and register that with the government so we know that you fucking have it.'
This is how the post looked at the time of writing:
(Source: YouTube screenshot taken on Wed Jun 21 15:12:35 2023 UTC)
Click below to watch the video on YouTube:
This is false. It appears the person in the video -- who does not identify himself or cite any specifics for his claim -- is referring to the USDA initiative for the People's Garden, a project that supports community gardens to "empower communities to grow healthy food in a sustainable way and teach about the benefits of local, resilient food systems. These gardens foster community collaboration, create jobs and green spaces, provide access to nutritious food, and benefit the environment."
The USDA website clearly states that the People's Gardens are not a backyard garden on private property:
People's Gardens are different sizes and types, and can include school gardens, community gardens, urban farms, and small-scale agriculture projects in rural and urban areas. They cannot be personal gardens located at private residences.
Community gardens may be registered to join the People's Garden Initiative but there is no requirement to do so for public gardens and private gardens are not eligible for participation.
The Washington Post published an article on May 30, 2023, titled, "USDA's People's Garden is a bounty of health and community," which reported that the gardens are part of an effort to increase investment in urban agriculture.
Lead Stories has debunked other claims from the same social media user, including that troops in hazmat suits were arresting people on the Utah State campus, that California legalized pedophilia and that Arizona extended the 2022 ballot counts to fix the election in favor of the Democrat in the governor's race.
